October 29, 2012

We've been getting great results using the cooking-with-water method — doubt it, but try it! — and the Wellshire dry-rub center-cut bacon (from Whole Foods). But today, Meade — needing to take a borrowed dog swimming and to interact with some housepainters — left it slow-cooking for 3 hours.

I made some Usinger's Applewood smoked bacon (and eggs) for breakfast yesterday, left the fat in the pan, and then wilted lacinato kale and bok choy in the fat for dinner. That's the best way to eat those greens.

Cooking with water the next phase at the Meadehouse will be cooking with the Sous Vide method :) One of my engineering students gave a presentation on this process and claims it produces the best tasting meat he has eaten-- if you can keep the water temp above 130 degrees.

Cook bacon over a low or medium heat. Turn often. Put a lid on the pan for the first 10 minutes or so. Pour off most of the bacon fat into a container that strains the crispy bits off. SAVE the fat, in the refrigerator, for other purposes, like making stir fried rice. Or dipping your shaped biscuits in before baking them in the oven. Nom nom nom.

Turn up the heat and crisp the bacon to desired crispiness watching carefully so it doesn't burn. I like my bacon a bit on the not crunchy side.

For you and me, yes. For a healthy young Labrador Retriever who dreamed of swimming before he was even born, no way. The challenge for me this morning was getting him OUT of the water to continue our jog.

Madison Man, I never would have used ham hocks, much less ate them until I had southern style greens.

I slow cook a combo of kale and collard with ham hocks and onions, garlic, rep pepper seeds, amazing and healthy. I chop up the meat from the ham hocks and add to the greens. But with the hocks flavoring the greens it wouldn't even be necessary.

For meat? Oh gross. A good rib eye needs to have that crispy, slightly charred outside and be dripping red, just above body temperature inside. It is the contrast of tastes AND texture that makes a steak great.

If you don't have ready access to Whole Paycheck but have a Trader Joes, I recommend their "Ends & Pieces" bacon. It's a pound of odd shaped pieces left over from cutting the whole hock. Some of it is very lean and thick. It sells for considerably less than the perfectly cut strips.

That sounds as appetizing as recipes calling for you to boil chicken. Which is to say, not appetizing at all.

Presumably the water is used because the bacon is too dry in the beginning, which prevents uniform heating, presenting difficulties in finding the right pan temperature and curling of the bacon.

The better method instead of using water (which chemically conflicts with fat) is to take some of that bacon grease that you have saved in a jar in your refrigerator, and place a teaspoon or two in the pan with the strips of bacon, warming the pan over low heat until the grease is melted and then increasing the heat to medium. The melted grease provides enough surface coverage on and around the bacon to keep the temperature uniform, helping to more quickly render out the fat and crisping the bacon better, more quickly, and with less curling.

And when you are done -- pour the remaining grease into that jar and keep it in your fridge as a similar starter base for any number of other foods -- eggs, vegetables, steaks, etc.

My mom used to take 10-15 pound pork bellies and cook the whole slap in the oven. She used to say, why eat bacon in slices when you can it in chunks. When she used to stuff it with all kinds of goodies too it was awesome.

When I was in the air Force, doing KP in basic training, I learned that bacon could be baked in the oven in a flat cookie sheet with a lip. You can cook a lot of bacon that way and it tastes great. But takes a lot of work to clean up.

One of the real pleasures of roast turkey is having the delicious skin to eat

Oh yes. This year we are going to deep fry a small turkey. We used to do that all the time when we had a smoked food deli. Brined and THOROUGHLY dried off before cooking. It only takes about 15 minutes to cook a 10 to 12 lb turkey and the skin is great.

Speaking of which, has anyone ever made bacon gravy?

Yes. Cook up 6 or so slices of meaty bacon. Chop up and set aside. Pour off most of the bacon grease leaving about 3-4 tbsp. Be sure to keep the crusty browned bits. Cool your pan down a bit if very hot. Gradually stir in 2-3 tbsp of flour, and a little cracked pepper, over medium heat, til the flour has absorbed the fat [making a roux]. Stir in 2 to 2 1/2 cups cups warm/room temp milk and slowly stir over medium heat with a flat whisk or a fork [if you are a purist]. When nice and creamy, thick and smooth add back the chopped bacon.